Pat Hayes wrote:
>> Take, for instance, Newtonian physics. In 1850,
>> one is tempted to say that the whole system of
>> Newtonian Physics is objectively true. In 1950,
>> one is tempted to say that it is not true.
>
> It is not true. But its being false does not make
> it any the less objective. It is objective by
> virtue of being about the actual world, and
> capable of being tested against the world: as we
> say, empirically. In fact, it could be refuted
> only because it was, and remains, objective. (01)
hm. (02)
my 'the earth is flat' is objective, as it is about the actual world --
even if it is a false statement. (03)
my 'the earth is flat, i think' is also objective, as it is still about
the actual world, despite it's acknolwedging my uncertainty about how
accurate the statement is. (04)
my 'i think the earth is flat' is objective it is recast as a syntactic
variant of the above, expressing the same proposition (about the world).
or, it is objective because it is about my thinking, which certainy
belong to the actual world. or, it is subjective, since there are no
(common sense?) means to verify its truth or falsity. (05)
your argument for the newtonian physics (as a statement about the world)
being objective is that it can (now, not then) be verified as false. so
let's imagine that is some (hopefully not so near) future we come to
have extremely (in our today's scale) powerful devices, which, pointed
to a patient's head, would allow a physician (or g.w. bush) to say 'no,
that's not what you are thinking'. would, then, my 'i think the earth
is flat' (or 'she is ugly') become -- and not really become, but rather
be discovered to always have been -- objective? (06)
vQ (07)
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